The Times 4/13-4/16

Monday:
There are a bunch of interesting stories today, and it’s a nice change that not a lot of them have to do with the economy. One big story is the one about the sea captain who was rescued from the pirates. This was great to see, as I had been following the story somewhat since he was taken hostage last week. I think The Times did a good job of presenting this story, with the sidebar detailing the “final hours” before freeing the captain and showing a map of where the incident took place. This story laid the basis for another story further in the paper detailing the controversy over whether or not to arm the crews of merchant ships. This controversy comes up as there are more and more pirate attacks.
One story that did have to do with the economy, but was interesting anyway, was the one about possible changes in student lending. This seemed like it could be a good localized national story if you wanted to look into whether or not UNH is going to have changes in the loans that are given out to students.
Besides that, I thought the article about paying workers to not work was pretty interesting, as well as the one describing a law prohibiting sagging pants. Both seem sort of random, but are very interesting to read about.

Tuesday:
A few interesting stories in the news today. There were another couple stories as follow-ups to the navy rescuing the sea captain. It is interesting to read these second-day stories following the breaking news of a couple days ago. Today the stories focused on what Obama plans to do about the pirate problem (he’s not sure yet,) and retired navy seals complementing the snipers who shot the pirates.
A story on the front page shows an interesting trend that has come about because of the downturn in the economy: I wouldn’t have expected people to start to heckle the people who present at car shows. It seems sort of strange that they would take out their anger on the people who work at presenting the cars because those people aren’t involved in the things that would make someone mad. (Unless of course they are angry at the car companies selling cars.)
The article about the lady from Disney who is investigating what boys would like to see was cool to read. It is interesting how she is actually going and talking to kids to see what they like, though it seems sort of creepy that she is doing things like digging through their drawers and stuff. That seems a little extreme.

Wednesday:
The article about cancer pills and insurance shed light on some things in our country that just don’t make sense. While it’s great that researchers are developing pills for cancer patients so that they don’t need to take their meds at the hospital through an IV, those developments aren’t going to be very helpful if no one can pay for them. Paying $5,500 for the first round of pills and then $1,700 for each following month just seems a little bit excessive. I don’t understand why insurance companies aren’t covering these pills to the same extent as they cover the medicine received through an IV.
A sort of depressing story was the one on the front page about the girl who plays violin in Ohio. It seems so sad that this girl is giving up her dreams of being a violin teacher or performer because she is worried that she will not make enough money.
There was an article about an American journalist in Iran who is being accused of being a spy. This is an issue facing journalists that you don’t read about every day. I guess covering the news in some other countries is a dangerous thing. (Which I knew already, I just don’t think about it very often.)I’m curious how the trial will go and what the US will do.
There is a follow-up story on the Thailand riots, which I am interested in because my sister went to Thailand a few years ago. Apparently the rioters are taking a break because of the strong military presence, but it doesn’t seem like the situation has actually been resolved at all. They just went home, probably to riot again in the near future if something doesn’t change.

Thursday:
A story that interests me directly and also could be spun off to be a localized national story is the one about GM possibly dropping the Saturn brand. Since I drive a Saturn, I wonder what will become of this plan: will Saturns leave the market? Will people continue to make the parts I will need to fix my Saturn if it ever breaks down? Will I be able to buy a new Saturn any time in the future? It would be interesting to see what Saturn dealers in New Hampshire are doing in this time where they aren’t really sure whether or not GM is going to drop Saturns.
The article about US wiretapping is rather troubling: it talks about how the National Security Agency was looking at the emails and listening to the phone calls of US citizens. And what’s more troubling, they were listening in on people that they were not allowed to: a “significant and systemic” “over collection.” I don’t want any government official reading my emails or intercepting my phone calls. That is ridiculous.
There was an interesting article about medical research: people are looking for ways to see what specific DNA is responsible for certain diseases. That would have potential for a lot of help for victims of these diseases, or for potential victims with that DNA who could go through preventative treatment and maybe never get the disease. It’s too bad that the researchers are having trouble figuring out what DNA is responsible.
An update on the pirate front: French officials are doing something about it now. It will be interesting to see what countries come together to fight off this growing threat, and how much we can do to stop it. But for now it is encouraging to see that other countries will be in this battle as well.